Oswaldo Alanis looks to pass against Real Salt Lake. The Earthquakes used Alanis in many situations to help play through the mid-block press of RSL on Wednesday. Photo credit: ISI Photos / San Jose Earthquakes
For what felt like the first time in a long time, San Jose defeated a club confidently in a tooth-and-nail struggle. It wasn’t a hard-fought tie (like against Seattle last time out) or a blowout against an overmatched Los Angeles Galaxy squad (anyone can get those nowadays), but a workmanlike victory over Real Salt Lake, who was fighting the Earthquakes for a playoff spot.
These “Quakes Quickies” are supposed to expand on a single event in each game, but I couldn’t really resist this time out. There were a few different items worth expanding on.
Earthquakes sans possession
An interesting wrinkle in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory: San Jose lost the possession battle 44% to 56%. Once this season is over I’ll dive into this more, but under Almeyda San Jose simply doesn’t have confident victories in games where they’re not on the front foot throughout. After Wondolowski’s 16th minute goal – and especially after the ~30-minute mark, Real Salt Lake dominated possession:
Possession by 15-minute interval: San Jose vs. Real Salt Lake, 10/28/2020
| 1’-15’ | 16’-30’ | 31’-45’ | 46’-60’ | 61’-75’ | 76’+ | |
| SJE | 75% | 55% | 38% | 31% | 38% | 31% |
| RSL | 25% | 45% | 62% | 69% | 62% | 69% |
If this team can add a counterpunch to its arsenal, it makes them that much more difficult to defeat come November (and potentially December). It also came with more zonal defending than Almeyda’s squad has ever successfully pulled off. Maybe this was just taking advantage of Salt Lake’s lack of team speed, maybe it’s another thing to prepare for LAFC’s Rossi and Vela on Saturday. I guess we’ll find out.
Tiki-Taka through a press
Real Salt Lake came out in a mid-block press that has, to date, been frustrating for the Earthquakes. Minnesota United was the first team to press San Jose effectively this way, in MLS is Back. After they destroyed the Earthquakes, I wrote this:
Minnesota sat in a mid-block press and stuck Robin Lod and Jacori Hayes on Yueill and Magnus Eriksson, keeping them receiving the ball with their backs to goal for much of the first half. When the ball went from the midfield to Kashia/Alanis/Vega, MNUFC snapped the press and pressured these guys. They bet that San Jose would rather hold the ball between their central midfielders, fullbacks, and center backs than to chuck long balls to Rios. They were right. Rios had the fewest touches and fewest duels he’s had all season.
Vancouver did a similar thing against San Jose in their victory, and Real Salt Lake tried to pull it off as well. This time, however, the Earthquakes showed some ways to work through it:
A throw-in in the defensive half is probably the least dangerous and most boring reset possible. And yet, six passes later, San Jose passed through the teeth of a press and got a high-quality shot attempt from it. It’s worth looking at how.
Look, I’ve never coached at any level. If I did coach, would I even say “don’t throw the ball in across the field between two defenders”? Would I find it necessary to warn my right back that, if they don’t get enough on the throw, the opponent can walk it into the net?
Anyway, Nick Lima throws the ball in between Damir Kreilach and Albert Rusnak. It’s a wild risk to take and relies on him getting his entire body behind the throw on a wacky surface. If he pulls it off, it gets the mid-block off balance right away. If not, everybody is screaming at him to make the easy pass to Flo Jungwirth.
Lima pulls it off, and Almeyda must have been grinning.
The idea of the mid-block press is that a defense doesn’t let itself get stretched out by chasing in the attacking half, but also doesn’t passively let the opponent into their defending half. By setting the line of confrontation around the midfield line, a defense ideally keeps the ball off the foot of an attack’s key distributors.
Salt Lake has 7 defenders within 10 yards of the midfield line. They’re hoping to gum up any pass on the ground and rely on the size of their central defenders to win any balls in the air. They won the possession battle this game – it’s not a bad strategy!
As Alanis takes the ball into midfield, RSL is probably is worried about the following:
- A big Alanis-to-Cristian Espinoza diagonal
- Jackson Yueill getting the ball facing the RSL goal
- Marcos Lopez or Carlos Fierro getting the ball running at speed down the line
Andy Rios is able to find a seam in the press simply because he’s not as primary a concern as the above. RSL’s right side is sticking close to Lopez and Fierro, and Everton Luiz is hanging out to make the diagonal a bit more difficult. Marcelo Silva has to stay connected to Aaron Herrera in case Fierro makes a run, and Nick Besler chooses to stick to Yueill. Because San Jose is so spread out in the attack, Rios is able to sit in a pocket and receive an easy pass.
I feel like I’ve said this before, but I really like Andy Rios. Here, Freddy Juarez’s troops have set the trap: Rios is surrounded by four defenders and has his back to goal.
There are those out there who love Aaron Herrera. I’m, uh, not so sure. Andy Rios basically dribbles in a circle and moves Herrera from his right hip to falling off of his left.
It’s worth noting another difference between Rios and Magnus Eriksson here: the Swede doesn’t have the technique to dribble around like that – he’d be more likely to try and sell a foul to the ref or clip a ball to Marcos Lopez. Rios doesn’t do anything too fancy, but with a few touches he has built a 4-v-3 and an overload on the left side, breaking the press not by dribbling through it but just by keeping his backside between the ball and pressure for a couple of seconds.
This is not easy to do! Also, check out how literally nobody on either team moves in this interval besides Chris Wondolowski, setting himself up to be onsides and sprinting towards goal once Rios sheds Herrera and picks his head up. Wondo, man. There’s nobody else.
I’m still not sure what Fierro was trying to do here, and I’m not sure he would give you an honest answer. My guess is he was trying to get the ball to Rios’ outside, but because he chipped the ball awkwardly both Maykel Chang and Herrera converge on Rios, who can outmuscle them both, he gets the ball back for a second bite at the apple.
Aaron Herrera just lost a duel with Rios at midfield, then sprinted back to follow him only to lose another duel at the top of the box. He should have probably switched over to guard Lopez, but he’s pretty exhausted at this point. Not everyone can be Judson.
Fierro’s awkward pass aside, we can see the advantages to playing against a mid-block if you can pass through it: you can choose the avenue of attack. Against a high press, a team is first concerned with getting the ball out to the midfield and taking the advantage from there. Against a low block (like Portland’s defense), a team is playing against defenders with their hips pointing away from their own goal.
It’s not easy to thread through, but a victorious duel in the midfield leads to a discombobulated defense.
Donny Toia has been in the league since the Chivas USA days and has well over 100 appearances in MLS. That said, Donny Toia covering both Wondo and Espinoza when the left back has plenty of time on the ball is a recipe for a Bad Time.
You may say that Fierro, Rios, and Lima are all crashing the box with higher-percentage shots and better chances to put it behind Andrew Putna, the former UIC standout. To which I would respond: but volleys into top bins are extremely cool.
There’s a reason the mid-block press has been pretty effective against San Jose so far: done right, it keeps Fierro, Espinoza, and Yueill out of good positions and puts the ball at the feet of the team’s secondary/tertiary playmakers. If Herrera makes a bit smarter of a challenge – or if that’s Christian Roldan and not Aaron Herrera making it – then it’s likely a turnover and a quick counter against Jungwirth and an out-of-position Alanis.
If San Jose can beat it, using Rios’ feet or Lopez’s speed up the flank, then they’re an even more difficult opponent in these next two-plus games. Oh, another thing that would help: a true vertical threat.
Cade Cowell is a good time
I know Jamon Moore is the data scientist at this site, but I also know that in sports science there’s always these weird outliers that make you say “oh, so it turns out there is a .05% chance for a key pass from Zone 4.” (Reviewer’s note: Jamon Moore is not a data scientist. He just hangs out with a bunch of them on ASA Slack. Also, the actual key pass percentage from Zone 4 is 0.106%.)
Here’s to more of Yueill spraying the ball to Cowell in a 1v1 situation in the future.
